The invasion of the sands. Projects to clean the moat of fort Saint Fernando in Cartagena of Indias

Abstract

This article analyses the solutions proposed by various sects of the spanish military in order to resolve one of the principal issues which affected the fortifications of Cartagena de Indias: the issues created by the sands which intermittently filled the moat surrounding the fort of San Fernando of Bocachica, which compromised its defence. The implementation of engineered solutions, and their application in the bay of Cartagena, afforded a more detailed contemporary understanding of the American territory, and the analysis of such, as undertaken in this article, contributes new scholarship concerning the work carried out by Spanish military engineers in New Granada at the end of the 18th century.